I think

This is the longest break I've taken from blogging in a while. I've mostly been working and getting a handle on the new job, and I think I'm settling in pretty well.

Also, I've started physical therapy for the sciatica/myofacial pain, which consists of deep massage and loosening the tense muscles and tissue, which is pretty painful at the time, but it is lessening the pain I'm feeling the rest of the time. I'm lucky that they have late appointments, plus my schedule was adjusted a half hour earlier on arrival and departure from work, so that helps, too.

The dog is still full of anxiety. She only feels relaxed and safe with YKWIA and Brenda - not me. He was here all weekend but went over to help our friend who has cancer today, and when he got back she was just shaking. She needs a companion (the cat does not count; he just acts out and beats her up when he's ready to eat). But neither of us can afford to adopt another dog from the pound just yet. I hope she gets better at being alone.

I guess that's how my life is going right now.

My schedule tomorrow will be starting one hour earlier

So that I can leave work and go get my first allergy shot of this series. My Epi-Pen is in my bag (just in case), although I don't foresee any issues, and hopefully there won't be any. I'm going to go in on Tuesdays and Fridays whenever possible. They are right across the street from where I live, practically, so it should be pretty convenient.

Tonight I got some rest, but didn't do any of the stuff I should have. That's typical for me on Mondays. My weekends are often busier than my weekdays, and I usually crash once I get home on Monday. But I'm surfacing for some blackberries and yoghurt, and to get some water in me. I had two big 32-oz mugs full of water earlier today, but haven't had anything since I got home.

So I think I'll do a couple of things before going back to bed, notably filling the fish tanks. I've been meaning to do it for awhile and the large one is down lower than half. I have just a few goldfish in there, but I'm being a very bad fish mom. So I'll at least lug some water back and forth first. Good night.

It's just now dusk and I'm getting home about the time I have been--but...

before that I worked a full schedule at work, got off while it was still quite light outside, went to Parisa International Supermarket to look for something for a friend (and found it; they were very helpful), ate dinner, took the bus to the library, returned a book, checked for wi-fi-only updates for the tablet (there was one that popped up yesterday, but it's gone now), paid a small fine, checked out two seven-day videos (Back to the Future 2 and Monty Python's Life of Brian, both of which I enjoy), and checked out a book by Matthew Pearl called The Technologists. I had just read a review yesterday about it and it was on the new book shelf.

Today was busy at both jobs, and the day seemed to fly by. I don't feel as draggy as normal. Maybe I just need a regular workday to keep my Circadian rhythm happy. It's nice to see some sunshine that isn't just through a window. At least I have a window, even if it is at my back. Some people have little cubicles that have no natural light anywhere about.

It was a gorgeous day today, calm, sunny, in the 60s, and few clouds, which is kind of strange as it's sitting right between two days of tornadic storms. Wednesday we had a tornado warning at one point and there were several that touched down in the state. They're saying we may have really bad storms tomorrow. In fact they're saying our area has a 70% chance of tornadic activity within 50 miles. Fun. I have a feeling that I'm going to get wet tomorrow. Maybe I should put the electronics into those gallon-sized Zip-Lock bags I accidentally got before my trip, and then put them into my backpack.

Okay, I think I'm going to read a little Turn Coat (Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files). I only have it out for Kindle for a little while and I'm only about a third of the way through.

A really nice day, kind of lucky even

I took an earlier bus over to the bank (it's just about two blocks, but that way I don't have to walk in the bicycle lane on Richmond Road; there's no sidewalk for about half of it). The bus overshot my stop but let me off a little ways from it, and on my way I ran into a former co-worker who offered to wait for me and then take me to work. The teller went ahead and cashed that $10 cheque despite the fact that I didn't have that much in my account, so I had something to eat on today. Fortunately I get paid tonight and tomorrow night. I got to work almost a half hour early and decided to wait to clock in and just have breakfast, which instead of my normal Pop-Tart was a bagel, cream cheese, blackberry preserves, a banana, and blueberry yoghurt. As a consequence I ate lunch later than usual. I sent off the request to have those cheques re-sent. I got quite a bit done for the library, including some more cataloguing and shelving. It occurred to me about 20 minutes before it was time for my break and then transferring to the data entry job that our book vendor is running a special 22% discount on one book order until July 31st, which is almost upon us, so that's on the agenda tomorrow.

After work I took the bus home and stopped by the library, where I discovered I missed an e-mail on a book hold and had been charged a fee. I'm usually good about getting my holds; this one had a fairly long queue and I guess I missed the e-mail. So I paid the fine and had them renew my books, which all come due this week (there are three; just because I have a Kindle doesn't mean I'm spurning libraries). Actually, I also managed to read one poem and short story by Poe and another short story by Conan Doyle, in between lunch and bus rides. I love being able to read on the bus, although I have to keep a sort of kinetic sense of the turns to remember to stop when I need to.

Oh, and I noticed on the walk home that our apartment complex has added Rosies to the dumpster area (Rosie is the name of our city's recycling container). Yay! It's an incentive to straighten up and get some of the paper I'm drowning in out of the house.

I must remember to call my doctor's office tomorrow and cancel or reschedule Thursday's appointment, which I can't make due to the new schedule. I also need to decide whether to go to a friend's on Wednesday or Friday; I'm leaning towards Friday, as I have that project to finish. I've done the research for most of it, and some outlining, I just need to go online and start typing. I'm going to start that in a little while.

Hope you had a nice day, too.

I just spent the points that I had connected to my debit card

for a $25 Amazon.com gift card. Yay! I'm pretty sure it can be used on Kindle books, there's just another step since most items for the Kindle are bought through the 1-click method. So far, a week after the Kindle arrived, I have 40 books on it, all but a few free, and the combined total of the others were about the same as a hardback book. Elizabeth Peter's A River in the Sky (which was excellent; I've already finished that one) was the most expensive at $12.99. Then there was a $6 collection of HP Lovecraft stories and poems, a $4 collection of Edgar Allan Poe stories and poems, a $4 Latin grammar, and a $4 collection of all 15 Wizard of Oz books, which I've never read. Everything else has been public domain books such as the Iliad, the Odyssey, Plato, Aristotle, Marcus Aurelius, several works by Wallis Budge, and then horror and fantasy such as Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, HG Wells, and Jules Verne. So it's pretty varied. Plus I've been able to put PDFs, including the game notes on it, and I have two Loreena McKennitt albums to listen to whilst I read. I'm enjoying it.

I got up just a bit early, enough that I'm ready for work and can do a little writing, but I didn't get up early enough to work on a project I need to finish that is woefully overdue. I'll try to get that done later today.

I am triple-booked for Thursday, it occurred to me. I have a doctor's appointment which I need to move because it's during the evening data entry job (I didn't have it when I made the appointment). An old friend is playing an Irish music concert down at Mia's (although that would mean another foray into the sidewalkless downtown) that night about 8. And without thinking, I told a friend I could come over then. That may need to be moved to Wednesday or Friday.

Otherwise I have to get the project done, and there's notes to do, and my house really needs to be cleaned up. So I have plenty to keep me busy this week outside of work.

I'm drowning in paper

It's amazing how much paper one can accumulate in one room. Unfortunately, you have to go through each piece to make sure it's not important. Some things are, like prescriptions and flexible spending receipts and pay stubs, for example. Most were on the loveseat, but I've tucked all sorts of stuff here and there in the living room. Just about every horizontal surface is covered with stuff, whether paper or not. I'm making progress, but I'm not finished, even after over an hour of dedicated weeding.

I have completed my census form and called my mother. It looks like we're going to try to have me visit Monday night, if my schedule stays like the preliminary one I found. Then I can come back on Tuesday. I must remember my CPAP machine this time. My mom's had some sort of viral stomach bug and wasn't feeling too great, but seemed to be getting over it. By Monday she shouldn't be contagious, thankfully.

So...

Wednesday afternoon I spend dusting at YKWIA's.
Thursday evening I'm going to have dinner with Angelica and Teressa.
Friday's my birthday, and I'm hoping to go out to an Indian restaurant.
Saturday I work at the store, no doubt, it's just a matter of when.
Sunday I clean the game master's house and play in the game.
Monday evening I go over to my grandmother's.
Tuesday I'll have to ask off for and will come back from Danville.
Wednesday, if the schedule holds out, I'll work.

So I should be fairly busy, but have some time to do stuff like notes, hopefully.

Home at last

I took off from the hospital today to run some errands and go to an exhibit on Flinders Petrie's excavations of Aegypt that's wrapping up at UK by Sunday. I thought it would be $10 to get in, but it turns out that it's free to alumni, but you don't have to be in the Alumni Association or anything. Petrie, unlike other excavators of the time who were interested in carting off treasure as quickly as possible, saw archaeology as a science and approached it very systematically. These are items from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology in London, some never displayed before, and with my interest in Aegyptology, I wanted to take advantage of it. Although I've read quite a bit about Aegypt's history, life, and language, I first heard of Petrie from Elizabeth Peters' Amelia Peabody mysteries. Peters is a pseudonym for Barbara Mertz, who holds a phD in Aegyptology.

The exhibit was very nice and spanned most of Aegypt's pre-Islamic history, including items considered classically Aegyptian but it also had Ptolemaic, Roman, and Coptic artefacts. It was well-attended. There was a group of elderly men and women and two women with their pre-teen children, among others. The exhibit runs through the 14th (Sunday), after which it returns to England. Hours are 12-5 except on Friday, when it is open till 8, and although it is $10 for the general public, it is free on Friday from 5-8, and also free to students, staff, and alumni of the university.

After that I went to my friends' house and painted shelves and did some work around the house for them. I stopped at the gas station on the way home to pick up a PowerBar for dinner, then walked home through a steady rain. Now I'm glad to be home. I did manage to go to the pharmacy in the early part of the day and got a lace-up support for my ankle, although it's a devil to get on. :)

Tomorrow I have a consortium meeting over at UK's Young Library where we'll have a continuing education class. I think it's on evidence-based medicine. I'll have to leave a little earlier than usual to make it there on time by bus. Then it's over to the store for truck night from 6-10.

Saturday I work from 10-6 [not by myself!] and then there's more painting to do (the last of this project, though). Sunday is the game. Monday I have my appointment with the podiatrist in the morning, and then I work at the hospital, staying a little later since I'll come in late. Tuesday and Wednesday are long days, working at the hospital and then working at the store from 3-10. On Thursday I'm getting the car fixed. It's also our employee appreciation cookout, so I'm torn as to whether to take the day off and hang out at the repair shop or go back in to work and then pick the car up afterwards. I'm taking the car in by 8 am, so it hopefully will be finished fairly early. Whew! It's going to be a busy week!

A better day than expected

When I went to work at the store last night, I looked at the schedule more closely than I had when it first came out, and realised that the new manager had *scheduled me for 10 hours by myself*. Come on, a girl's got to pee at some point, not to mention there's no way to take federally-mandated breaks when you're the only person there. So contrary to my usual passivity, I called him. The district manager had apparently been under the delusion that we had single coverage on Saturdays (Sundays often, yes, but Saturdays?), so that's what he'd scheduled. I explained that this was not the case. He got one of the other women to come in a couple of hours early and the new guy to come in for four hours, so I was only alone for four hours total, broken up into two periods, so that wasn't bad. Of course, most of the propane exchanges did happen when I was alone.

As it turned out, although it was relatively steady, things were not as busy as they could have been, and with help around I was able to take my designated breaks, which helped out whenever I started flagging a bit. So even after working 10 1/2 hours, I am not as exhausted as I could have been, which is good, seeing as I still have notes to finish (although I did work on them earlier in the week for a change). Plus, my ankle wasn't too bad, either; it is swollen and does hurt, but not as badly as it has been, even after standing for that amount of time.

Yay.

Okay, I'm going to take it easy for about forty-five minutes and then start work on the rest of the notes. I may write later depending on how that goes. If not, good night.

I have high hopes for tomorrow

in terms of getting some of the things done during vacation that I meant to when I took it. I don't have to work at job #2 until four and have no plans with anyone prior to then. The general plan for the rest of my 'vacation' (subject to change):

Thursday 10/2

9:00 Wake up, breakfast
9:30 Begin notes
12:30 Finish notes (3 hours), Lunch
1:00 Clean kitchen (incl. taking out trash and cleaning refrigerator)
2:00 Clean Living room (incl. finding a place for boxes of books on floor)
3:00 Clean Bath
3:30 Get ready for work
4:00 Work
10:00 Off work, go to friend's
10:30 Do reading
12:00 Get other friend
1:00 Go home, sleep

Friday 10/3

8:00 Wake up, get ready
9:00 Catch bus to horse farm excursion
12:30 Back at hospital, check on detail for report, finish report and submit
1:00 Go to friend's
1:30 Errand with friend
2:30 Watch Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day with friend
4:30 Go to work
5:00 Work
9:00 Off work, back to friend's
9:30 Do reading
12:00 Get other friend
1:00 Go home, sleep

Saturday 10/4

9:00 Wake up
9:30 Do notes
11:30 Finsih notes (2 hours), get ready for work
12:00 Work
10:00 Off work
10:30 Do notes
11:30 Finish notes (1 hour), sleep (unless I'm not finished with notes; if that's the case, do extra)

Sunday 10/5

8:00 Wake up
9:00 Prepare for game
1:00 Game
8:30 Finish game
9:30 Do notes
11:30 Finish notes (2 hours)
12:00 Sleep

Monday (10/6) back to work at job #1...

Somewhere during the weekend there is the task of taking and/or picking up a friend to/from work, but I don't know his schedule yet. But that would be late at night or early morning--generally midnight, 3 am, or 7 am).

Also at some point, I have to catch up on my RSS news reader (Google Reader) because I have over 500 stories on it. Gack!

Woo hoo! Woo hoo!

I came back to my apartment to get my shirt for work and lo! there was a flexible spending debit card from Ceridian. This means I can go back to my sessions with my counselor and even more importantly, get my full stock of medications, since I've been limping on the bare minimum the last month. I was actually down to samples of Lamictal and Abilify, and I've been out of everything else except for an old metformin prescription. I don't plan on going back on Avandia, though; the case against it concerning heart attacks just keeps mounting. If the Janumet doesn't do enough for my diabetes, then I'll ask for Actos. But I'd rather just start getting a little exercise and keeping my sweet and starch intake within reason and see what happens rather than add yet another pill.

I am debating about going on to the gym. I stayed late at work today since I have to leave early for an appointment and ate some tuna when I got in. I have to be at work at five. What I may do instead is spend some time on the exercise bike my grandmother loaned me and then start with the gym tomorrow. :)

I did make up a schedule for the upcoming week of what I'd like to get accomplished at work (I'm going to have a large shelving unit moved a few inches to allow for room between the cubicles and the unit...so I have to compact old journals, take off the ones that are on it at the moment, have maintenance take the units apart, move them, put them back together, and then I need to put the journals back in, making room to take some from the other unit so that things are more evenly distributed and there's room for new issues all around.) I also want to go to the gym each weekday if possible. There's my notes. I've also worked in a couple of small painting projects and some cleaning, both at my place and another's. And if I can just get up by 8 I have time for yoga, too. We'll see. It doesn't give me much free time, but I didn't have much to begin with; I just rearranged what I was planning to do anyway.